Pre-Vacation Blog Dump

The whole Famn Damily will be heading North to Buffalo, NY on Monday. We're driving up with Michelle's sister, so there'll be four of us in a fairly new Honda. We all know the drill by now. A two day drive with a motel stop-over. A week camped out at the in-laws. Another two day drive back home. Check. Got it.

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After hearing for years and years about how super-groovy iMacs are compared to Windows-based PCs, I have found out the following.

A seven-year-old can boot one up and totally destroy the operating system in less than one minute.

Mariel's play date did just that by turning it on and then wildly banging away at the keyboard. It is so easy to open windows and rename files and folders. The dang thing will no longer even boot up. It just displays a nearly impossible to read "panic" screen message.

I suppose I could re-install the OSX operating system, if I had the system disks, which I don't.

And even if I did have the system disks, I couldn't do it, because there is already a disk in the drive and Apple has, in their infinite wisdom, not provided an eject button for the drive. The only way I can eject the disk is to boot up the system, select iTunes and then click on the eject icon!

Apple, you suck.

There, I said it!

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I had heard rumblings about this, via the on-line cartoon nerd network, but I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.

BIG LOTS, a low-end remainder discounter has been selling top-of-the-line Warner Home Video DVD box sets for $3 a pop!

Pictured here is the mind-roastingly excellent POPEYE THE SAILOR VOLUME ONE set with a $3 price tag on it!

I ran to the local outlet and picked up two of these puppies for some unspecified future gifting purpose.

The cartoon nerd network soon provided the answer for this "too good to be true" windfall:

"Studios periodically destroy excess DVD product, which consists of
unsold discs returned from vendors and defective goods. Here, WHV (Warner Home Video) says it entrusted the product to Cinram Distribution, which has a deal with Warners to handle excess inventory (and which, surprisingly, is not a defendant).
Cinram subcontracted with IWMB, which is alleged to have shown Warners
a "fraudulent certificate of destruction" before going out and selling
the DVDs and Blu-Rays on its own."

(Full story HERE.)

WHV has filed a $10,000,000 lawsuit with the shady subcontractor.

Now the race is on to scarf up as many WHV box sets as possible. This is a real golden age for those of you who really enjoyed seasons five and six of THE DUKES OF HAZZARD.

Side note: Our local BIG LOTS store had a light blown out on their electric sign so that it read "BIGOTS!" Now I know where to buy those discount klan robes.

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My final paycheck went into my bank account yesterday, via direct deposit.

The severance and unused vacation checks have been mailed out from the corporate office as well.

Michelle received her paycheck from the evening class she taught at the community college, as well.

Bottom line: We should be (barely) solvent up through Labor Day.

With any luck one (or both?) of us will be employed soon. If not, the unemployment insurance checks should be kicking in right about when we'll need them.

We'll get by...

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See you on the other side of the vacation, gang!